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Flow Assurance
Dr James Holbeach
Regional Manager Oceania
Wood Group Kenny
May 2014
james.holbeach@msikenny.com p:+61 8 6314 2500 / +61 417 553 757
Presentation Contents
Learning Objectives
• It is NOT meant to make you a Flow Assurance Engineer, but rather give
you an Overview of the discipline.
What is Flow Assurance?
Introduction
• Why is FA demand increasing?
Onshore Facility
The Schumacher Group plc. Webber Industries pty. ltd
Dom Gas Offshore topsides
Vettel
Ricciardo
Raikonnen Single phase export
(VRR)
Engineering Alonso Corp. pty. ltd
Multiphase subsea
Flow assurance is the primary discipline that Alonso Corp. pty. ltd
understands how the system works as a whole
Subsea Processing
Well bore
Senna Energy
Translation services R us
Topsides
FA
5000+ m
Subsea
FA
Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs
Demotic script
Ancient Greek
Subsurface
What is happening?
10000 5000
Pressure
9000 4500
Liquid Holdup
8000 4000
7000 3500
Inlet Pressure (psia)
6000 3000
5000 2500
4000 2000
3000 1500
2000 1000
1000 500
0 0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120 130 140 150
Flowrate (MMSCFD)
10 120
5 100
0 80
Temperature (bara)
Pressure (bar)
-5 60
-10 40
-15 20
-20 0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24
Time (hours)
Case Study: Flow Assurance
•Beer
Beer
Normal operation
Beer / Gas
Empty Keg
Shutdown / Re-start
Where does FA fit in the
project Schedule?
Introduction - FA Areas - Overall - Fluid - Hydraulics - Thermal - Op. Mode -
Design Checklist - Project Schedule - Project Cost - Summary - Project Example
Project Costs
• To achieve the above goals, the FA discipline must consider a number of areas.
• Any one of these could be a sizing or governing case for the design for a
particular aspect of the system.
Flow Assurance Key Knowledge Areas
• Appreciation for the overall system (gas/oil, level of processing, Sediment
other fields, etc)
• Fluid-related issues:
• Hydrates
• Corrosion
• Wax
• Asphaltenes
• Scale
• Sand (erosion, transport, deposition)
• Other issues eg emulsion, heavy oil, dense phase
Introduction - FA Areas - Overall - Fluid - Hydraulics - Thermal - Op. Mode -
Design Checklist - Project Schedule - Project Cost - Summary - Project Example
100
Only ice Only Liquid water Only water vap.
Pressure (bar)
90 TWO-PHASE
• Reservoir fluids exhibit such typical 80
(LIQUID DROP-OUT)
Both Liquid and Gas exist @ same time
phase envelopes as they are multi- 70
component mixtures. 60
50
40
30
20
10
0
-100 -50 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500 550 600
Temperature (C)
Phase Behaviour and Fluid Properties
• physical & transport properties (density, viscosity, surface tension, thermal conductivity, specific
heat, etc)
• Hydrates
• Corrosion
• Wax
• Asphaltenes May have none, may have several, may have all!
• Scale
• Sand
• etc
Hydrates are ice like structures with methane trapped within a cage of ice
molecules
Fluid Related Issues - Hydrates
• Ice-like solids that form due to the presence of water. Hydrocarbons are
trapped in a lattice of frozen water.
• May be an issue during steady state production, and more commonly during
shutdown and cool-down of a production system
90
80
70 Inside the
hydrate
Pressure (bara)
60
region…
50 PROBLEMS!
40
30
Outside the
hydrate
20 region… ok.
10
0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Temperature (C)
Fluid Related Issues - Hydrates
Outlet (fascilities)
As gas travels through a deepwater production system it may cool to ambient conditions and then heat back up as
seawater temperature rises. This figure depicts this process and shows how an inhibition of slightly more than 20%
MeOH would be sufficient to prevent hydrates forming in the system
Fluid Related Issues - Corrosion
• Corrosion is primarily due to the presence of CO2 and H2S in the wellstream.
• Chemical treatment
• Pour point depressants (PPDs) – wax inhibitors.
• Usually a last resort as PPDs are notoriously difficult to specify
and can cause problems downstream. Not so effective too –
require analysis to suit type of fluid.
Fluid Related Issues - Asphaltenes
• Tar-like substances
• Where
• Wellbore
› Region where pressure is above the bubble point
› May occur at subsea choke, depending on operating conditions or
compressor blades etc …
Remediation
• Thermal
• None – function of pressure
• Asphaltenes do not melt
• Historically a significant problem if waters from different fields are mixed (due
to reaction between mineral salts).
• Scale precipitation can block production systems very suddenly (within hours
or days).
• Sand production is often managed “down hole” using sand screens, gravel packing and
other methods.
• The erosive effects of sand may impose production limits to ensure critical velocities are
not exceeded. Specifying a sacrificial material layer or more durable materials may be
necessary.
• To assess the likelihood of sand deposition and “bedding” in a production system requires
analysis of solids transport. Possible management strategies may be associated with
minimum turndown rates or periodic pigging /surging of the system.
Fluid Related Issues - Operating
Envelope
• A pressure-temperature operating
envelope can be developed from the Critical Point
curv
e
tene
fluid behaviour characteristics no asphaltenes asphal
discussed above.
dense
wax no wax phase
liquid
no asphaltenes
P
e
op
2-phase
vel
en
gas
ase
ph
w
ax
e
c urv cu
rv
te e
dra
hy
T
Fluid Related Issues - Operating
Envelope
• Phase Envelope:
• Describes the physical state of the
system at various temperatures
and pressures
Critical Point
dense • States vary between liquid, 2-phase
(gas & liquid), gas
phase
• ‘Critical Point’ is the highest P & T,
liquid that two phases can exist for a
given system
T
Fluid Related Issues - Operating
Envelope
• Hydrate Curve:
• Describes the potential for the
system to form hydrates at
various temperatures and
pressures
hydrate no hydrate
• Hydrates will form at
conditions (P&T) to the left of
the curve, and may cause
blockages in the system.
T
Fluid Related Issues - Operating
Envelope
• Wax Curve:
• Describes the potential for the
system to form waxes at
various temperatures and
pressures
wax no wax
• Wax will form at conditions
(P&T) to the left of the curve,
and may deposit in the system.
T
Fluid Related Issues - Operating
Envelope
• Asphaltene Curves:
• Describes the potential for the
system to form asphaltenes at
various temperatures and
pressures
no asphaltenes
• Asphaltene formation is most likely
within a pressure band over a
asphaltenes range of temperatures
T
Fluid Related Issues - Operating
Envelope
• Operating Envelope:
• Gives the overall
characteristic of the system
when considering phase,
Critical Point hydrate, wax and asphaltenes
no asphaltenes
T
Fluid Hydraulics
• Flowrate
• Required arrival pressure (eg; oil separation, LNG/gas
plant, etc)
• Available inlet pressure (reservoir or offshore facilities)
• Pipeline diameter
Fluid Hydraulics
rS = rL HL+ rg HG
› Understanding of liquid holdup is critical for DP
› DPUPHILL ≠ DPDOWNHILL
• Acceleration
› Not important in most O&G situations
Deepwater - Hydraulics
SURFACE
2000 – 2500m
MUDLINE
~7000 – 7500m
RESERVOIR GROUND
Multiphase Flow
• Movies
Multiphase Flow
140000
Total Liquid
Oil
Water
120000
100000
Fluid Velocity:
Water Holdup:
Liquid Holdup (BBL)
Area:
80000
Gas Velocity:
60000
40000
20000
0
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000
Gas Flowrate (MMSCFD)
Multiphase Flow
5000
6" Flowline
4500
8" Flowline
4000
10" Flowline
3500
Liquid Holdup (bbl)
3000
2500
2000
1500
1000
500
0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Flowrate (MMSCFD)
Thermal Design
• How to:
› Passive Systems
› Active Systems
• How to:
› Subsea heat exchangers
› Ensure exposed piping
› Select non-insulating external pipeline coatings
Thermal Design - Steady State Operation
2.84 W/m2-K
50
5.68 W/m2-K
45
40
Arrival Temperature (C)
35
30
25
20
15
10
0
0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000 12000 14000 16000 18000 20000
Flowrate (BPD)
WAT: 35C
• Why?
B
System Operations
• Commissioning
• Start-up
• Shutdowns (long / short, planned/ unplanned)
• Restarts (cold and warm)
• Turndown
• Ramp up
• Depressurisation
• Repressurisation
• Circulations
• And others …
System Operational Modes
• Understanding the operational modes is required to provide complete analysis of design conditions and
system behaviour.
• Key operational modes include: startup, shutdown, packing, un-packing, steady state, rate changes
etc
45
• Prolongs cooldown time
40
Temperature (C)
Gas / liquid interface typically controlling point 35
› Highest pressure 30
› Coldest temperature
25
› Gas = low thermal mass
20
15
10
0
0 4 8 12 16 20 24 28 32 36 40 44 48
Time (Hours)
System Operational Modes - Cooldown
30
RESERVOIR
WELLHEAD
25 FLOWLINE
SEPARATOR
20
Hydrate Propensity, T-Thyd (C)
15
10
5
0 hours (Steady State)
1 hours
0 2 hours
4 hours
6 hours
-5
8 hours
10 hours
-10 12 hours
18 hours RISER
24 hours
-15
0.0 1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 5.0 6.0 7.0 8.0 9.0 10.0
Distance (km)
• Transient Operations
• Shutdown
• Planned
• Unplanned
• Depressurization
• Restart
• Warm
• Cold
• Fluid displacement / pigging
• Flowline preheating
• Wax deposition rates
-7500
Original Route - 40 miles total length
-7600 Alternate Route #1 - 36 miles total length
Alternate Route #2 - 45 miles total length
– Oil System
-7700
Design checklist
Pigging – Liquid Arrival -7800
-7900
Water Depth, ft
-8000
-8100
400 -8200
Alternate Route #1
-8400
350 Alternate Route #2
-8500
-8600
Liquid Accumulation Above Normal* (bbl)
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 40
300 Distance, miles
250
200
100
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Time (hours)
FLNG
Offshore topsides
Multiphase subsea
LNG ( F(t) )
Multiphase subsea
• Identification of major issues that may significantly impact design / cost / schedule
include…
• Extreme pressures and/or temperatures
• Corrosive fluids (leading to exotic materials)
• Potential operating issues that may impair production such as hydrates or wax.
• Develop Philosophies
Develop Phase
Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3 Phase 4 Phase 5
Identify Concept Develop Execute Operate
• Ensure the design of a safe and operable system that delivers as required.
• Size systems.
• Close the loop between simulated and real operating behaviour for
predictive modeling systems.
• Ie, take field data to benchmark predictive models
• Online System
• Operations may request the development of a look-ahead tool that
predicts the system response to various changes, eg liquid surges
from ramp up operations etc.
Impact of FA issues on Project Cost
• Exotic materials
Onshore Facility
The Schumacher Group plc. Webber Industries pty. ltd
Dom Gas Offshore topsides
Vettel
Ricciardo
Raikonnen Single phase export
(VRR)
Engineering Alonso Corp. pty. ltd
Subsea Processing
Well bore
Senna Energy
Operations / Design
Production Management
• Online system
• Takes real operating data, interpolates and predicts
• Real time Hydrate management
• Real time virtual Pig tracking
• Real time slug / surge prediction
• Real time metering (Virtual Metering)
Process
Management
Subsea
significant system response &
changes to
concept constraints
design data
Ops
operability Pipelines
issues
FA
design requirements vendor
input
operating philosophies
Specialist
Eg, Corrosion
Materials, etc
fluid data
back pressures
Reservoir Prodn Tech
Introduction - FA Areas - Overall - Fluid - Hydraulics - Thermal - Op. Mode -
Design Checklist - Project Schedule - Project Cost - Summary - Project Example
Summary
• FA activities are present at every stage of the project schedule, but ideally one
step ahead of other disciplines.
• FA decisions can significantly impact project cost, hence potential issues should
be identified in a timely manner.